Introduction

The island of Mauritius is located at roughly 20° S of latitude and 57° E of longitude, just north of the Tropic of Capricorn, some 1 500 nautical miles east of the coast of Africa, 2 000 nautical miles south-west of the Indian sub-continent and slightly more than 3 000 nautical miles from Singapore or from the west coast of Australia.

Thanks to the geographical dispersion of the various islands which, in addition to the main island and to the principal dependency, Rodrigues, constitute the territory of the Republic, the Exclusive Economic Zone of Mauritius covers a wide area in the south-western part of the Indian Ocean.

Apart from tuna fishing (Mauritius is an active member of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission), there is scope for further exploitation of other fish species and of marine resources generally-speaking.

Resources & Activities

IBLFPA is a shipping agency which specialises in the handling of reefer carriers, fishing vessels and special-purpose ships, as well as vessels calling for bunkering purposes

The department, which has a staff of 13 persons, usually attends to between 100 and 150 port calls each year.

Its main duties & responsibilities include :

organising all operations and attending to all formalities in connection with vessel calls at Port-Louis,

Reefer Carriers

Most of these vessels are in the 3 000 to 6 000 tonne capacity range and they generally unload their cargo at private quays.

Vessel technical/supply requirements are also attended to, including all matters pertaining to crew.

Another activity relates to fish transhipment, with reefer carriers calling at Port-Louis to pick up consignments (mostly tuna) bound for export markets in Asia, Europe or America.

Regular clients include well-known reefership operators based in Europe and Asia.

Fishing Vessels

Fishing vessel calls at Port-Louis consist of tuna purse seiners, mostly French & Spanish, which operate in the Western Indian Ocean, trawlers operating in the Southern Indian Ocean and longliners engaged in albacora/skipjack fishing in the region.

Whilst many of these vessel calls are for commercial purposes, i.e discharge of their fish catch for export, Port-Louis is also utilised as a conveniently located base port from where to load bunkers, water & supplies, to provide ship drydocking/repair/maintenance and crew support facilities and to load fish baits and fish tackles. It is also a strategically located transit point for vessels being repositioned between the Asia/Pacific and Atlantic regions.

Bunkering

The geographical position of Port Louis makes it an ideal bunkering point for vessels plying within the Southern Indian Ocean on East/West (Atlantic/Africa to East Asia/Oceania or vice-versa) and North/South (Indian subcontinent to Atlantic/Africa or vice-versa) trade segments.

IBL FPA specialises in cost-effective agency services for bunker operations for all types of vessels.

It is also the port agent for a modern 1 500 dwt bunkering vessel operated by an oil major.